Federal Triangle

Feb 22, 2004

You packed WHAT?

If you think people are careful about what they put in their luggage when they fly, think again.

McNeil Security Inc., a subsidiary of McNeil Technologies Inc., one of three private companies in the United States providing airport passenger and baggage screeners for the Transportation Security Administration, has a long list of weapons passengers tried to get past the security folks at Rochester, N.Y., International Airport. The seized potpourri includes brass knuckles, knives of various lengths, corkscrews with knives attached, martial arts throwing knives and even a couple of handguns.

What do passengers say when caught with these items? "Oh, I forgot." "You mean I can't take this through?" Or, "I was wondering if I could take this through."

For those passengers who don't want to part permanently with a prize possession: The Hudson News gift shop at the Rochester airport will guarantee shipment to your destination or home address. Of course, they do so for a fee.

Help wanted

Looking for a new job? Not afraid to get out and rough it? So are more than 37,000 people who accessed the new Web site from the Office of Personnel Management to find job listings in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Defense Department Web site was the 10th most visited Web page at www.

usajobs.opm.gov during its first week of operation. The Web site lists jobs currently available in the two war-torn countries.

"OPM is committed to doing everything possible to assist in the development of Iraq and Afghanistan by partnering with key agencies such as DOD to provide the much-needed assistance in these developing democracies," said OPM Director Kay Coles James.

Showers are not included.

The check is really in the mail

Officials at the U.S. Postal Service are hoping to find a new way to attract business mailers. They have started upgrading the USPS Web infrastructure to track mail.

At a time when information about the status of a package is as valuable as the mail, a secure infrastructure will let USPS offer such online services to businesses as scheduling drop shipments, gaining access to their customer accounts and viewing the status of their mailed items.

Robert Otto, USPS' chief technology officer, said he expects the secure Web access connections to be completed by late April. USPS officials selected Oblix Inc.'s Web access-control and identity-management software to deliver the new services.